


All Is Revealed In The Limelight

by Lucihive6



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya is the only one with sense, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Canon Compliant, Chloe is Queen Bee, F/M, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Oblivious Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Photography, SHES NOT, Set in the future, aparT FROM THE FACT THAT SHE IS, marinette is nOT A STALKER OKAY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 02:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11072502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucihive6/pseuds/Lucihive6
Summary: With the new school year right around the corner Marinette aims to learn Adrien’s new schedule and finds it easier to do so under the persona of Ladybug. Having been spotted by an impeccably dressed stranger, she is thrust into another moral dilemma and a photoshoot deal with none other than Paris’ renowned model, Adrien Agreste.*****************************************************************************************************************In another universe it may have been a blessing that her persona Ladybug had been paired with Adrien, a sign even. She was still Marinette just without the perpetual amount of blushing and stammering. She would be cool and suave Ladybug. But, unfortunately, the luck of the ladybug no longer seemed to shine down upon her as Ladybug had somehow told the whole world that she was Adrien Agreste's biggest fan.





	All Is Revealed In The Limelight

**Author's Note:**

> another ML fanfic!! but this time it's less of a trainwreck because i actually have an idea of how i want this story to go! i hope you enjoy!

Marinette was _not_ a stalker. Okay, she knew to any outside eye peering in at her actions would undoubtedly mark her down as such but she would vigorously declare that it was simply not true. Interviews in magazines saying that it was ‘the norm to Facebook-stalk your crush’ were dangerous. Marinette disapproved of placing people above oneself by raising them on pedestals, and although Adrien was a model and famous within the hearts of girls, and some boys, throughout all of France, it did not mean that he was some kind of... _Adonis_ , or something.

So, perhaps ‘stalking’ was too heavy of a term. Marinette liked Adrien –an understatement of the century, as Alya would rightfully put it – but that did not mean that she had an overwhelming obsession to crawl in through his window and claim something of his to add to her shrine; _that_ was her definition of a stalker. Nor was she snapping pictures of the boy unbeknownst to him so she could pin them onto her wall. So, to her, a proper definition of a stalker would be The Pixelator, who had hopefully moved on from his obsession with Jagged Stone.

Although Alya would not-so-playfully label her as a stalker, to her it was just an extra matter or performing her duty as Ladybug... is what she repeated to console herself, to no avail. There was no way she could excuse her actions and pin it down to a ‘Superhero duty’. She was certain that Chat Noir or Queen Bee didn’t learn a civilian’s schedule and ring it up to acting as a Superhero of Paris.

In her defence, knowing Adrien’s schedule had saved lives. Well, _her_ life. Like when she had to sneak into his fencing class to delete that mortifyingly embarrassing message she had accidentally left on his voicemail. If she hadn’t deleted the message it meant that Adrien would have heard it meaning that she would have spontaneously combusted.

A year ago, before she was endowed with the power of the Miraculous, she had to be extremely cautious whilst stal- _happening_ across Adrien on her outings. Each breath constantly mingled with fear and her shoulders high-risen and on full alert of a bodyguard forcing a hand on them, her ears vigilantly pricked waiting for a suspicious: “what are _you_ doing here?” But none of that had ever happened and each time she had slipped away, a little gleefully, laden with another piece of Adrien’s busy schedule until his timetable was complete. Of course, at the time, she had felt guilty and a tad more than creepy but, all in all, she could handle that as her civilian self but now a year later she had dragged her Ladybug persona into this mess, streaking both of her lives with the same garish paint saying: ‘You should not be doing this.’

Last year knowing Adrien’s schedule had saved her life and she did not want to rocket-launch her way into the new school year without having some sort of protection against any awkward/mortifying moments of perpetual embarrassment in situations _she could have prevented_. So, in order to solve her moral dilemma she proceeded to _not_ solve it and transformed into Ladybug to hide in crevices of rooftops instead of dark, rancid-smelling alleys, all under the disapproving eye of Tikki.

She knew that she was being completely selfish and was disgusted and appalled at her own actions, but she couldn’t stop the thoughts cycling around in her mind such as: ‘If Adrien gets Akumatised I can save him quicker if I know his schedule,’ and, ‘I can just-so-happen to bump into him if he takes this certain route.’

Inside of her mind, a little voice that sounded alarmingly like Tikki’s, was telling her that she was being ridiculous and that Adrien was constantly being escorted around within a vehicle and if, on any rare occasion, he did step out for longer than two minutes in order to get to a designated place such as fencing practice, he was always with someone and there would be a very limited time frame to even say ‘hello’ to him. Marinette shunned the voice of logic and concentrated on the car parked below which was outside of a photographer’s studio. Last year Adrien had shoots a few times a month but it seemed that with his ever-growing popularity they were becoming more frequent.

He had been in there for more than an hour which left Marinette as Ladybug to grow restless. She had been wallowing for too long in thoughts that left her feeling itchy, questioning what she truly received from being a complete creep and following her crush avidly around the city as her Superhero persona. If Queen Bee ever caught her she knew that she could throw the other off her scent, but there would be no use in doing so if Chat Noir ever spotted her. But she decided not to dwell on it; if Chat Noir or Queen Bee ever caught her, then they must have been following _her_ in their Superhero identities meaning that _they_ were the ones at fault and not her.

Marinette stretched rapidly, peered over the ledge of the rooftop of a building she was occupying, and longed for Adrien to show his face so she could think about anything other than ludicrous hypothetical situations. It seemed as if the Ladybug persona cast some light (luck) on her situation and she beamed when the door of the studio swung open to reveal a bodyguard donned in black leading the well-awaited blond into the car.

Marinette timed it perfectly, or so she thought, and crouched before projecting herself into the air to hop onto another roof, concentrating on the pursuit of the car.

“ **Ladybug**!” She faltered, missed her footing and had to double roll to recover. She bounced back up and walked over to the ledge to peer at the pedestrians below. One man adorning a hat at a jaunty angle was waving at her. His eyes were shining underneath his glasses. He motioned to her to join him at ground level and she hesitated, looking over her shoulder to trace the car and to spot any potential danger. There was nothing.

Sighing in defeat, she aimed at the nearest lamppost, swung her yo-yo and took a soaring leap. She veered around the post and landed directly in front of the impeccably dressed stranger, whom she assumed to be a fan.

“Ah, Ladybug, _such_ a coincidence! What are you doing out here? Is Paris in danger?” His eyes were twinkling and he looked too thrilled to be scared at the prospect of an Akumatised victim.

“Oh, I’m just patrolling... Being a Superhero and all,” she was more than confused as to why this mysterious stranger had called her down from a rooftop to talk about coincidences.

“Well, I hope you’re not too busy; I think this is a perfect time for an interview! What do you say?” In a blink of an eye a camera crew hurried out of the studio and had surrounded her, complete with a photographer and an extendable microphone. A blinding light flashed in her face and she knew that she would look like a startled hamster. She admired and envied Adrien for being able to put up with dizzying mechanical flashes for an extended period of time.

Without waiting for an answer the mysterious man carried on. “So, what are your thoughts about Feeding Thousands, the charity founded to help misfortunate children throughout Europe?”

Marinette found herself staring at the red blinking light on the camera that was far too close to her face. “Um... Is this... Live?” Of course she was used to the many interviews after she had saved Paris, but usually she was with Chat Noir or Queen Bee and most of the time, both of them. She knew she could handle talking to the cameras one-on-one but this particular interview felt too spontaneous and she had no idea about the motive behind it. The man nodded triumphantly. “Well, I think it’s an amazing help. Anything to help sick and starving children can’t possibly be a bad thing.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself! Beautiful wording from a beautiful Superhero!” The man had crept closer and Marinette couldn’t help but stare at his designer hat, wondering what he would do if it tottered off from his head and onto the street floor. “Now, Ladybug, if I gave you an opportunity to directly help this charity – would you take it?”

“Of course,” no matter who this man was or his motive, there was no hesitance involved in helping people throughout the world. Her answer only caused the man to smile more.

“Then how about you team up with Marx Magazine on this issue on our column ‘Super Saving’!” He turned more to the camera than to her and she privately thought that the mysterious Marx man liked the sound of his own voice. “Donations are given to the charity of our readers’ most voted choice!” He paused to mount the suspense, and it worked, Marinette began to panic slightly at the erratic thought of ‘ohmygod I’m going to need to reveal my identity to the world for charity’ and the realisation that she had been placed in yet another moral dilemma, the man hurried on: “All you have to do is pose for a photo with one of Paris’ hottest models!”

A coil of tension loosened at the realisation that she would not have to de-mask herself she didn’t have time to put two and two together.

“Marx Magazine has joined with teenage model: Adrien Agreste!” And that was all Marinette heard before she stiffened, her eyes wide in disbelief of her predicament. Suddenly everything made sense. Adrien hadn’t been at a photoshoot, he had been at a contract signing and maybe even had a TV interview agreeing on working with a Superhero to donate to charity. And which Superhero did Marx Magazine first find?

“So, Ladybug, do you agree?” A split second pause before another question was thrown at her like she was part of a dagger-throwing act, her being on the receiving end. “What do you think of Adrien’s work?” “What do you think of his father’s work, Gabriel Agreste?”

There was no time to think or even stutter out vague responses, eyes behind the camera were focused on her and the reality of the predicament came crashing down upon her; that she would have to spend a whole day with Adrien in her Superhero persona, taking pictures and posing... _Together_. Words swam in her mind, entangling themselves together and it was all she could do but blurt out the only phrase that her scattered mind had wrangled together:

“I’m Adrien’s biggest fan.”

Her face contorted and her mouth flew open as she tried to deny her statement, attempted to swallow her words she had so recklessly flung into the air.

The reaction was instant and ranged from cries of excitement to coos. “Well, I’m sure Adrien will be relieved once he hears that, Ladybug! Next week is the scheduled photoshoot; I knew you would come ‘round,” the Marx man winked and Marinette simply stared, mouth agape. The man let out a loud denouncement and the camera crew eventually dispersed inside.

“Well, Ladybug, next week Saturday, yes? Yes? See you there!” The Marx man dismissed her with a singular wave and walked, or waltzed, back into the studio leaving Marinette standing on the pavement, drowning in a tsunami of incredulity.

**Author's Note:**

> mari is such a flop and i love her and i cant wait to write the next few chapters


End file.
